Chevy will try lure Tony Stewart back
Quote selected text Published September 8th, 2007 in NASCAR News
One of the top executives in the General Motors racing operation said the automaker will attempt to sign Tony Stewart to a contract with another Chevrolet team after his current deal with Joe Gibbs Racing expires.
“We’d be interested in Tony staying with Chevy,” Brent Dewar, GM North America vice president of sales, service and parts, said Friday at Richmond International Raceway.
“Most fans don’t realize that the drivers sign with the teams, and we all respect that. I understand he’s through 2009 currently with Gibbs. We’d love for him to continue with Chevrolet down the road. We’ve had a great relationship with Tony.”
Dewar also said Chevrolet will continue to support Stewart’s hobby, sprint-car racing, despite his defection to Toyota next year along with the rest of the Gibbs drivers.
“We’ve just got to sit down and see if it makes sense for all parties,” Dewar said. “We are starting to work with him and develop…he’s passionate about sprint cars, so we can see some avenues.”
Stewart said during last week’s Toyota press conference that he is planning an aggressive round of contract negotiations with his team.
- Seven cars to run new Chevy engine
- Toyota staying out of Stewart negotiations
- Nextel Cup Pocono Happy Hour speeds
- Edwards paces Happy Hour practice at Texas
- Kobalt Tools 500 final practice speeds
This should get interesting.
Smoke better stick with Joe Gibbs… whether it’s Toyota or Chevy! He owns that team! STAY AT JGR TONY!!!
I’m just as pissed as Chevy is that Tony is going to Toyota next year, but hey, Tony and JGR go together, if one jumps then the rest of them jump. If Tony is making the switch with JGR to Toyota, he should just stay there and dominate until, like he said, ‘it’s not fun anymore’.
Chevy is jealous, basically..
BTW don’t call me a ‘Chevy racist’, because I am a DIEHARD Chevy fan. But Tony and JGR comes first.
If I were tony I would stay at Gibbs through 2008 to the end of his contract and see how it goes. At that point he will be better able to access Toyota’s performance at Gibbs and if he still is unhappy, Retire and play with the sprinters or move to a good Chevy team if there is one left. Chevy wants him to drive for them bad enough that they will wait and still give 100% to his other racing endeavors he owns under the Chevy logo.
he is an idiot of he goes to toyota!!!
I will not support any of the sellouts, so I’ll be rooting for the Roush guys next year. I hope Chevy can lure Smoke back.
maybe if different car makes actually made different cars in the series instead of running these things that all lookalike maybe i’d be concerned but carmake loyalty is a thing of the past in this sport, or at least it should be because everyone is running the same shit, this will turn into IROC they way they are goin and y’all have seen what has happened to IROC
Why should it matter if he stays with Toyota, or go back to Chevy? He is a Gibbs driver, and wherever they go, he should go. I see where Gibbs is coming from because they want a leadership role. Tony wants a leadership role, but because of Hendrick, DEI, and RCR, Gibbs and Stewart would not get a leadership role with Chevy, whereas at Toyota, they would be the #1 team. Obviously we know Toyota’s are fast. Vickers has performed well, but because of this “top 35″ BS, it has screwed him over in qualifying. In the Busch Series, who is second in points? David Reutimann in a Toyota, and Leffler has run well this year too. The truck series, well… basically dominated by Toyota for the past couple of years. I truely believe Tony will be happier driving a Toyota, and working for them in the long run, much like Toyota’s American employees (GM keeps cutting jobs, outsourcing, laying off people, and strikes happen).
Shaun. wrote:
Testing out the new Quote feature!
I THINK TONY SHOULD STICK WITH GIBBS UNTIL HIS CONTRACT UP BUT AS OF NOW IT RALLY DONT MATTER WHERE OR WHAT HE WILL DRIVE..AS LLONG AS THEY WIN SOME RACES, BUT THIS IS GETTING CRAZY WE WONT KNOW WHO IS WHERE AND WHAT THEY DRIVE IN 08.. IM CONFUSSED..
WHY? Why would they want him associated with there good name. He is the dirtest driver on the track, bar none.
Well Well Well the bowtie gang cries because they want to call all the shots….well they don’t have the deep pockets as Toyota does. You can’t have everything you want…they’ll find that out over time as Toyota gets a better grip in the next couple years…..
He’ll end up at Hendrick. Gordon, Jr, Jimmie, and Tony. Imagine that.
A Smoke fan for now wrote:
Well, technically, he CAN’T reall go anywhere until his contract is up. Sooooo HE’S not selling out. He’s BOUND, by his contract to race in a toytoa despite the fact that he’s a chevy man.
Bud8fan wrote:
HMMMMMMMMMMM now THAT would be a true packed powerhouse!!!! very interesting.
Thanks for the new toy Kenneth
From A Tow Truck Driver That Tows Chevy’s & Fords All Day…..(Sad But True) The Imports Are The Way To Go! Stop Denying Reality & Wake Up ! American Automakers F Their Customers. Their Lack Of Standing Behind Their Own vehicles Tells You That, Open Your Eyes.
The segment about Gibbs and Toyota on Race day Live ( 9-8 ) was SO BIAS FOR
Toyota it was SICKENING. I would like to know how much $$$$$ Toyota paid Nascar
It get all this Great(biased) coverage. Jack Rouch was 100% right this will
raise the costs to all team. If you paid attention Toyota BUYS its technoigies.
All the big Nascar teams started small and grew over time. In the segment they
asked if Stwart’s fan would stay? They said it will inclease his fan base. I
work for UPS and I know first had the that the fan base for Jarret has drop
in half at the company.
Also Toyota was caught CHEATING at Daytona. They also were caught in the BAHA
series. They want to BUY A CHAMPIONSHIP. They talk about the cars being made
here. Only about 2/3 of the Camerys are made here. Where does the profit go?
Send the rice burners back to F1-IRL-Cart all of are not making money like Nascar
I think Tony should go back to a Chevy team when his contract runs out. Who thinks racing would be less fun when he is sucking every week in a Toyota? He isnt the kind of person to put up with that.
Nash wrote:
That would be awesome! I’d feel sorry for all the other teams but man that’d be great!
Gibbs wants to be the big dog when they admittedly cant get three teams competitive at the same time. I believe is because they are not willing to replace the dead weight on the #18 team and all the best crew members are on the other two teams.
PLEASE OUT THERE– ALL TONY STEWART FANS—YOU KNOW AND I KNOW HE BELONGS IN A “CHEVY” NOT IN A DAM TOYOTA !!!!!!!!! IT DOES MATTER WHAT HE IS DRIVING…. PLEASE LET HIM LEAVE GIBBS !!!!!!!!!
I have been a diehard Chevy man all my life. I have been a Tony Stewart fan after Dale Earnhardt died. I think the move to Toyota was the right thing to do. Like above posters have said, JGR will be #1 in Toyota factory support. Toyota also has better technology and more money that the “Big 3″ automakers. If GM wanted to keep Tony Stewart and JGR they should of gave them more factory support like they give Hendrick. Toyota makes some damn good vehicles and most of them are made here in the U.S.
Tony stewart was never happy with the move to toyota in the first place.Tony belongs in a chevrolet.toyota does not belong in nascar,people say that it is made america thats a bunch of crap it may be put together here put the parts are made in japan.All the profits go straight back to japan in their pockets,and people wonder why the economy is going down the drain buying foreign cars. toyota and its rice eating car need to go back to japan.
Ryan wrote:
Most of GM and fords are built in Canada and Mexico. At least Toyota is putting Americans to work. Instead of the unemployment line. Not for nothing, they make a better car then GM or Ford too.